Completely Inconsequential Hot-Takes 2: People Take Too Long to Post New Threads

[veti]

The critical line from the Wikipedia page was "It is often claimed that spices were used either as food preservatives or to mask the taste of spoiled meat, especially in the European Middle Ages.^[16][20] This is false.^{[21][22][23][16]}". Note that of the four sources cited in support of "This is false", three are specifically about the Middle Ages and the fourth is a more general history of spices. None are specifically about modern usage.

They're specifically about the European Middle Ages. They would be poor sources for discussing usage in, say, South Asia.

[InvisibleBison]

They're specifically about the European Middle Ages. They would be poor sources for discussing usage in, say, South Asia.

You're right. All of the sources I've been able to find present the myth as being specifically associated with the European Middle Ages, so none of them explicitly refute it in the context of South Asia. So I will instead point out that spices cannot in fact hide the smell or taste of rotten meat.

[Peelee]

You're right. All of the sources I've been able to find present the myth as being specifically associated with the European Middle Ages, so none of them explicitly refute it in the context of South Asia. So I will instead point out that spices cannot in fact hide the smell or taste of rotten meat.

Also the health impacts of eating rotten meat are... Not ideal. I'm not going to argue that they were used to disguise rotting meat. Preservation i can buy, though. Salt is great but variety is nice, not to mention potential lack of availability, cost, or other logistical factors.

[Batcathat]

It is kind of interesting how many ways of preparing food (especially meat, I think) just started out as a way to keep it from going bad. Now I kinda wonder whether the invention of freezers and refrigerators has slowed the pace of culinary invention? (If that is the case, I'd say it's worth the prize, though my reactions to spoiled food probably count as a phobia, so I'm a bit biased).

[Rynjin]

I could try that but I do think the sourness from the sour cream matters in the flavor. Just like how buttermilk and milk are not remotely the same thing. Edit: I guess technically the main difference is that in cream cheese you lose the whey, but in sour cream it's still emulsified in? Pure whey definitely has a distinct flavor... Edit 2: Also sour cream has huge brand and regional variations so I'm not sure without being very specific we'd have the same experiences. I remember that sour cream I was able to find in Japan basically was cream cheese, whereas the sour cream I get here is fragile enough that if you blend it you basically get something thinner than half and half. And Mexican-style sour cream was a totally different thing too...

(Also, even with the sour cream you start to hit issues with the ice cream wanting to be on the firm side. With cream cheese, I fear you'd have a brick that wouldn't even melt at room temperature, like if you do a peanut butter ice cream with too much peanut butter. So probably I won't actually try making cream cheese ice cream.)

Soften it first, the same way you'd make a cream cheese frosting. Coldstone makes a cheesecake flavored ice cream by the same method.

[Ionathus]

Bolded for emphasis:I will readily agree that Europe is not Southeast Asia.

Now that's a daring and divisive opinion! So controversial. So brave.

It is kind of interesting how many ways of preparing food (especially meat, I think) just started out as a way to keep it from going bad. Now I kinda wonder whether the invention of freezers and refrigerators has slowed the pace of culinary invention? (If that is the case, I'd say it's worth the prize, though my reactions to spoiled food probably count as a phobia, so I'm a bit biased).

Probably not slowed at all, given the prevalence of fusion and multicultural foods that have become more commonplace even just in the last two decades.

Or a better way to say it: I agree that necessity may indeed have been the mother of invention when it came to preservation in centuries past, and innovation due to preserving food is mostly unheard of now. But I'm certain that globalization (for all of its many flaws, which we deffo can't get into on this thread ) has more than made up for that difference. People have more access than ever before to a wealth of ingredients and cuisine (which they immediately incorporate into their own cuisine). Food & cooking media is also huge, and it inspires many to push their culinary boundaries.

As anyone who's ever tried to google a recipe ever can tell you, we almost have too much culinary innovation these days

[Peelee]

Now that's a daring and divisive opinion! So controversial. So brave.

Fortune favors the bold.

[Bohandas]

It;s possible that we've mixed up cause and effect here. Maybe they flavored it that way because they liked how it tasted and those whose recipes happened to preserve the fool lived longer and healthier and thus had more opportunity to communicate those recipes to other people. Meme theory!

[Rockphed]

As anyone who's ever tried to google a recipe ever can tell you, we almost have too much culinary innovation these days

My wife recently tried the chocolate cake recipe from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook; she thinks it is the best chocolate cake recipe she has ever made. So many recipes these days are full of meme ingredients (brioche means "stale, tasteless bread" to me, by the way), that what you really want is tried and true recipes, not innovation.

[Peelee]

Hot take: cream cheese is a garbage ingredient in sushi.

[Bohandas]

Instead of "cousin once(/twice/thrice/etc) removed" we should say "second(/third/etc) niece/nephew/aunt/uncle" This is not only less ambiguous but generally also better represents the relationship in practice.

[Peelee]

Instead of "cousin once(/twice/thrice/etc) removed" we should say "second(/third/etc) niece/nephew/aunt/uncle" This is not only less ambiguous but generally also better represents the relationship in practice.

For anyone who wants to conceptualize this:

Spoiler

Show

[Rockphed]

Instead of "cousin once(/twice/thrice/etc) removed" we should say "second(/third/etc) niece/nephew/aunt/uncle" This is not only less ambiguous but generally also better represents the relationship in practice.

My mother occasionally interacts with her 6th-cousin 3-times removed who is about her own age. Then again, I knew 2 sets of aunt/uncle and neice/nephew who were the same age growing up, and one of my cousins is younger than his oldest nephew. Generations are of rather varied length.

[Rynjin]

Instead of "cousin once(/twice/thrice/etc) removed" we should say "second(/third/etc) niece/nephew/aunt/uncle" This is not only less ambiguous but generally also better represents the relationship in practice.

I don't think I've ever known or even met anybody who actually uses this given that it doesn't really matter how "removed" a cousin is lol.

Unless you're a weirdo who likes to really find the legal line on certain things, and making that kind of thing even more ambiguous is probably for the best.

[enderlord99]

What do you call a spouse's sibling's spouse? I'd go with "Sibling-In-Second-Law"

[Rynjin]

What do you call a spouse's sibling's spouse?

Usually their name

[Draconi Redfir]

In my family we use a pretty straightforward system.

If it's the sibling of a parent, grandparent, or great-grandparent, they're an aunt or an uncle.

If they're the children of any of THOSE individuals, they're a cousin.

If they're the children of your own siblings, they're a Nice, Nephew, or Nibling.


Anyone beyond any of that is generally referred too as a "Cousin"

[veti]

Indeed, degrees of cousinhood don't really seem that important nowadays. Unless you're planning to marry one, maybe.

To the best of my knowledge, I've never even met a third-or-higher degree cousin of mine.

[Rockphed]

Indeed, degrees of cousinhood don't really seem that important nowadays. Unless you're planning to marry one, maybe.

To the best of my knowledge, I've never even met a third-or-higher degree cousin of mine.

My wife is my 14th-ish cousin (possibly once or twice removed). I looked it up once because I was curious. I met some second cousins once and might have met some another time. My parents are very into genealogy, so they have figured out how they are related to some of their friends (I think it tends to be in the 8th- to 15th-cousin range), and I know some of those friends (or their children) so technically I have met rather distant cousins. But then the question should probably be the most distant relation who you met because you were related.

[tomandtish]

For anyone who wants to conceptualize this:

Spoiler

Show

We had to design software at work (CPS) to track relationships (bio, married, adopted) between various people. The developers wondered why we started laughing when they said there didn't need to be more than one bio relationship between any two given people.

According to my grandmother (I never verified this), Peyton and Eli Manning are my 6th cousins.

My wife MIGHT be a 5th cousin.

[Rockphed]

We had to design software at work (CPS) to track relationships (bio, married, adopted) between various people. The developers wondered why we started laughing when they said there didn't need to be more than one bio relationship between any two given people.

I can see only having the closest bio relationship as being reasonable, but I am fairly certain you would want to track all the relationships.

My wife MIGHT be a 5th cousin.

My mother's grandparents were 3rd cousins. The story is that they didn't notice until after they had multiple children together.

[veti]

We had to design software at work (CPS)

Calibration precision services? Canon printing systems? Clicks per second? Crown Prosecution Service? Don't keep us in suspense.

The developers wondered why we started laughing when they said there didn't need to be more than one bio relationship between any two given people.

Find new developers. If they are confused by the idea of multiple overlapping relationships, they're not fit for the job.

[Peelee]

Calibration precision services? Canon printing systems? Clicks per second? Crown Prosecution Service? Don't keep us in suspense.

Contextually, Child Protective Services.

[Ionathus]

My mother's grandparents were 3rd cousins. The story is that they didn't notice until after they had multiple children together.

Genetically speaking, by the time you get to 3rd cousins there’s really not a lot of overlap, right?

If you couldn’t have children with your third cousins, a lot of small communities would probably struggle. And no, that’s not a joke — I grew up in a town of fewer than 3,000 people and family connections were incredibly common. You’d get to 3rd cousins really quickly without even knowing it, I’d bet.

[tomandtish]

Contextually, Child Protective Services.

Correct.

And yeah, tracking all the relationships is a legislative requirement.

[Draconi Redfir]

Genetically speaking, by the time you get to 3rd cousins there’s really not a lot of overlap, right?

If you couldn’t have children with your third cousins, a lot of small communities would probably struggle. And no, that’s not a joke — I grew up in a town of fewer than 3,000 people and family connections were incredibly common. You’d get to 3rd cousins really quickly without even knowing it, I’d bet.

pretty much yeah. Genetically speaking 3rd cousins are fine.

Realistically, everyone's a distant cousin from one another in some way. if you think about it, you have two parents, four grandparents, eight great-grandparents, every generation back doubles. But if we were to go back in time, our population would be smaller then it is today.

So eventually you reach a point where you're guaranteed to have people who appear on multiple different branches of your family tree.


Pretty sure that's related to the whole "after enough time has passed, you're either the direct ancestor of every living human in existence, or the direct ancestor of none of them" thing.

[Bohandas]

Another hot take: Does anyone else hate eating in dim light?

My mother occasionally interacts with her 6th-cousin 3-times removed who is about her own age. Then again, I knew 2 sets of aunt/uncle and neice/nephew who were the same age growing up, and one of my cousins is younger than his oldest nephew. Generations are of rather varied length.

Well yeah, if it's something really distant, but my cousin's kid is closer to a nephew than a cousin

[Batcathat]

Another hot take: Does anyone else hate eating in dim light?

I wouldn't exactly say I hate it, but I've certainly never seen the appeal. When I was a kid, we would often eat a nice Friday dinner by candle-light and I remember occasionally complaining about it. As an adult, I suppose I've gotten used to it, but it's not something I would choose for myself.

[Ionathus]

The only time I've eaten in dim light was at a weird local restaurant, and my date got food poisoning.

Probably not because of the lighting, though

[Peelee]

The only time I've eaten in dim light was at a weird local restaurant, and my date got food poisoning.

Probably not because of the lighting, though

Probably was, actually. The cooks couldn't see anything either!